New Delhi, Mar 3: National Investigation Agency has sought judicial assistance from China to trace a GoPro Hero 12 Black camera linked to the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 tourists dead.
The agency will soon issue a Letter Rogatory (LR) to the competent judicial authority of the People’s Republic of China to identify the purchaser, end-user and technical records of the camera, bearing serial number C3501325471706. The Ministry of Home Affairs has granted concurrence for issuance of the LR in connection with case RC-02/2025/NIA/JMU dated April 27, 2025.
A special court in Jammu on March 2 allowed the NIA’s application seeking permission to approach Chinese authorities through the Ministry of External Affairs. The agency informed the court that the camera is crucial to establishing pre-attack reconnaissance, movement patterns and operational preparations of the terror module behind the Pahalgam attack.
According to the NIA, the camera was supplied to China-based AE Group International Limited more than a year before the attack and was activated on January 30, 2024 in Dongguan, an industrial city in China. The device is among several electronic items examined during the investigation into the conspiracy and execution of the assault at Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam in Anantnag district, where terrorists opened fire around 2 pm on April 22, 2025.
The NIA told the court it had issued a lawful notice under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita to the manufacturer, GoPro BV, seeking supply chain and activation details. In its response, the company stated that the camera was supplied to AE Group International Limited in China and that it does not possess downstream transaction or end-user records.
As the activation, initial use and commercial trail of the camera fall within China’s jurisdiction, the agency said the required information can only be obtained through judicial assistance. In the absence of a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between India and China, the request is being routed under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which both countries have ratified.
The NIA formally registered an FIR on April 26 following directions from the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalisation division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, after Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba’s proxy, The Resistance Front (TRF), claimed responsibility for the attack. The agency took over the case from Jammu and Kashmir Police five days after the incident, described as the deadliest civilian attack in the region in nearly two decades.
The April 22 attack occurred when terrorists descended from nearby hills into Baisaran valley, often dubbed ‘mini Switzerland’, and opened indiscriminate fire on tourists, killing 26 people, including a Nepali national. Investigations are underway to unravel the larger conspiracy. (Agencies)
